Relationship Rescue: 10 Guided Steps to a Great Relationship

The number one complaint I hear from the couples is that they have difficulty communicating. Generally, this means that a lot is being said, but neither feels heard of understood. In this lecture, students will learn how to send and receive messages clearly, so that regardless of whether or not you agree on things, you each feel heard, validated and respected.

All couples conflict. What matters though, is whether they can have conflicts and challenges that are resolved, or whether the conflict leads to destructiveness in the relationship. In this lecture, students will learn how to have conflicts while remaining caring and respectful, so that they can be open, honest, learn from each other, make changes, and grow stronger and closer.

So much of working through conflicts relies upon the ability to repair afterward. Without repair, feelings remain hurt, resentment can grow, and connection can be severed. In this lecture, students will learn to regroup and reconnect after challenges and conflicts, so that they can still feel they are on the same team, have each others backs, and can move on together.

Without healthy boundaries, it is easy to lose yourself, to lose the closeness and passion between you and your partner, and to lose the ability to have healthy expectations in your relationship. In this lecture, students will learn how to create healthy boundaries for themselves, their relationship, and their extended family, so they can have a trusting, transparent, and faithful relationship.

Relationships are challenging, and it is all too easy for couples to became critical and disrespectful when things are difficult. The problem is, once you feel disrespected you don't feel that it is safe to be yourself with your partner. In this lecture, students will learn the very subtle behaviors that convey disrespect, how to recognize when they are going down that slippery slope, and how to reign themselves in and remember how important they are to each other.

Infidelity is extremely destructive to relationships. Falling in love and being in a relationship requires a great deal of vulnerability, and when we are betrayed we no longer feel emotionally safe or special. In this lecture, students will gain a clear understanding of how to define infidelity and how to have clear rules and expectations in their relationship.

As painful as infidelity is, couples can work through the pain and repair their relationship. The process of repair is a very delicate one, that requires patience, openness, and courage. In this lecture, students will learn the necessary feelings, conversations, and behaviors for repairing from infidelity, whether sexual, emotional, financial, or any other number of betrayals.

Although there is no absolute method for preventing infidelity, couples can create a relationship culture that protects them from vulnerability to betrayal. As with personal health, relationship health requires a cognizant effort to do the things that keep it strong and secure. In this lecture, students will learn the key traits and attitudes for preventing infidelity, and honoring the emotional and verbal agreements in the relationship.

We make friends throughout our lives and value the richness that they bring to our lives. Unfortunately, all too often couples treat each other with less care and respect than they do their friends, which begins to corrode the connection in the relationship. In this lecture, students will learn how to nurture the crucial foundation of friendship, in order to create the pathway to a successful, resilient, relationship.

Feeling like two ships passing in the night is no way to live your relationship. Ideally, regardless of how busy life gets, we should not feel alone, but instead emotionally tethered to each other. In this lecture, students will learn the ways to create healthy connection in their relationship, while also managing all that life involves .

Like any other accomplishment in life, relationships require energy and effort. It's very easy to take each other for granted and put the relationship on the back burner, but eventually it becomes depleted. In this lecture, students will learn how to create a relationship savings account that will allow them to tolerate "rainy days' in the relationship, and remain solid and strong!

Sexual intimacy takes very little effort when a relationship is new and exciting! Unfortunately, novelty ends, life gets busy, and very often couples report that it just begins to sounds like too much work! It does remain though, a very important part of a healthy, connected relationship, so what are couples to do?! In this lecture, students will learn a healthy perspective on sexuality, and how to move through their resistance, in order to improve passion and longing in their relationship.

Having passion, goals, and dreams, makes life and relationships more meaningful and purposeful. Couples who value each others dreams and create shared ones as well, feel closer and like more of a team. In some cases, one partner might feel stuck in life, and it is actually the other that highlights their strengths for them and encourages them to follow a dream! In this lecture, students will learn the importance of supporting each other's goals and creating a bond of shared dreams.

Truly great relationships are the result of consistent attention, care, and nurturing. Like anything else that helps to sustain us, it has a life of its own. If we ignore it and leave it in the dark, without water or nutrients, it will dry up and fade away. In this lecture, students will be given a checklist for a solid relationship maintenance plan and encouraged to revisit the list for regular relationship tune-ups!